


Tommy Shepherd Learns About Love

by Mutant_enthusiast616



Category: Marvel (Comics), Marvel 616, Young Avengers (Comics)
Genre: Angst, F/F, F/M, Homophobia, Homophobic Language, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Torture, Internalized Homophobia, M/M, Post - Children's Crusade
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-03
Updated: 2020-01-03
Packaged: 2021-02-27 07:02:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,242
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22103020
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mutant_enthusiast616/pseuds/Mutant_enthusiast616
Summary: Tommy Shepherd's life had always been full of shit. He didn't need anybody and nobody needed him. Much to the speedster's annoyance, the Young Avengers have decided it's time to change that. Will Tommy push everyone away or will he finally realize his immense worth and finally find happiness?
Relationships: Billy Kaplan & Tommy Shepherd, David Alleyne/Tommy Shepherd, Jeff Kaplan/Rebecca Kaplan, Kate Bishop/America Chavez, Teddy Altman/Billy Kaplan
Comments: 8
Kudos: 61





	Tommy Shepherd Learns About Love

**Author's Note:**

> Firstly I want to say that summaries are hard and I hate them. Secondly I'd like to say that this is my first time writing anything involving the Young Avengers, and it's my first time posting anything on here (I'm a little nervous). I'm just a huge fan of the Young Avengers (especially Tommy), and I think they deserve more content. Anyway, thank you to everyone who reads this!

“Hey!” the poor hotdog vendor shouted as his cart was nearly tipped over by a blur of green zooming past. Deep down, Tommy felt bad. He knew that stealing was wrong. But he also knew that he was hungry and that was enough to keep the guilt at bay as he sped through New York. It was unbearably humid outside, even for July. The breeze that the speedster created while running felt nice so he decided to run aimlessly around town for a while. It was that or go back to that dang apartment with no AC. Yes, Tommy had just been hoping for a relaxing run. But his life was never relaxing.

A loud explosion sounded in the distance. “You’ve got to be kidding me.” He murmured as he sped to the source of the commotion. Billy absolutely loved the hero stuff, it was like a dream come true to that little nerd. Tommy on the other hand just saw it as a way to keep busy. As a way to keep moving. That was all he really cared about. And it was certainly better than being back in the mutant lab. Anything was better than that. “Oh shit,” Tommy said as he skidded to a stop in front of an apartment building that was being consumed in flames. After a moment’s hesitation, he sped into the building to evacuate the residents. After all, he was quicker than any fire department could ever hope to be. After a few minutes, he was sure that all the civilians (and their pets) had been deposited on the sidewalk, safe and sound from the fire. That was a relief since the building seemed near ready to collapse. Whatever had caused that explosion sound earlier must have seriously damaged the structural integrity.

“Wait, my son is still in there! In apartment 2b on the 3rd floor!” a woman screeched. Of course. Of fucking course. There was no time for a moment’s hesitation now. Tommy zoomed into the apartment and found the boy trapped in a corner. A support beam had fallen, preventing the boy from escaping. The beam was made of metal and was no doubt a million degrees at that moment. “Hold on, kid, I’ll get you out of here,” Tommy said in the most soothing voice he could manage. The child looked up with fearful eyes. “I can move so fast that I can go through the beam,” Tommy explained. He didn’t mention that he had only done something like that one time, and it had led to Billy vomiting all over him (he was still mad about that). Tommy took a deep breath and began to vibrate. The boy made a surprised noise and next thing he knew, he had safely escaped the corner.

Unfortunately, the vibrating had further disturbed the structure of the collapsing building. The roof began to cave in, and the door was no longer an accessible exit. “Hold tight.” He told the boy as he grabbed a blanket off the couch and wrapped the child in it. Safety first. He then zoomed for the window. But he didn’t zoom fast enough before a chunk of the ceiling fell on him. Ow. Without thinking too much, Tommy through the kid out of the window. 3 stories weren’t that bad, and hopefully, someone would catch him.

Tommy wanted to phase himself out of the ceiling rubble, but he actually could not feel anything from the waist down. That was a problem. A big problem. He was trapped in a burning building. He was fucked. He tried not to panic because that would be pretty pointless. But it was hard not to panic when you couldn’t even breathe. The air was hot and the room was filled with smoke. He was suffocating, he thought to himself. After everything, this was how he would go out. He supposed this was as good a way as any. He’d die a hero, that’s pretty cool. He idly wondered if his parents would be proud now. He continued to ponder this as he drifted off into unconsciousness.

“It was an accident, I swear!” Tommy cried into his mother’s sleeve, “Please don’t let them take me.” She removed his grip on her and put some distance between them. “Boy, don’t make this harder. We’ve been putting this off long enough.” She said. The indifference and detachment in her voice hurt more than any hit his father had ever delivered. One of the scary men in suits stepped forward, with strange-looking handcuffs in his hand. “Let’s go, freak.” He said with disgust.

“ _I want Tommy to wake up. I want Tommy to wake up. I want Tommy to wake up.”_ a familiar voice chanted. Tommy shot up to his feet and screamed, “No!”. Billy’s eyes (which were glowing blue) widened and he put his hands up. “Hey, it’s just me. You’re ok.” Billy assured. Tommy took in his surroundings. He wasn’t 100% sure where he was, but he could take a safe bet he was in Billy’s (and Teddy’s) bedroom. There were nerdy posters and action figures everywhere. Tommy was suddenly feeling quite lightheaded, so he sat back down on the bed. “What’s going on?” Tommy asked warily. “Well I was…in bed when suddenly I got this terrible feeling that you were in trouble,” Billy explained, “So I did a locating spell and saved your ass.”

“Oh, well, umm thanks,” Tommy said lamely. He and Billy were (supposedly) twins and yet he could never figure out how he was supposed to act around the guy. “Of course,” Billy replied with a genuine smile. “Look who’s awake,” Teddy said from the doorway as he handed Tommy a glass of water. Tommy finished it in an instance and handed it back to the taller boy with a nod of gratitude. “Well I think that’s my cue to leave,” Tommy said as he stood up, “Now you two can get back to sexy times.” Teddy’s face turned bright red and Billy frowned. “No, you can’t just leave,” Billy said, “We have to make sure you’re ok.” Tommy waved him off. “You worry too much, I’m fine-“he was interrupted by a large coughing fit. “That doesn’t seem fine,” Teddy observed and Tommy shot him a glare in between hacks. “Please just stay for the night?” Billy asked with a sad puppy dog face. God Tommy hated this. “Fine,” he said, “but I get your bed.” And with that, Tommy laid down and waited for sleep to come again.

Luckily, Tommy made it through the rest of the night without any more undesirable dreams. He didn’t need to give Billy any more reasons to pity him. Tommy attempted to get out of bed and hit the road, but his feet landed on a big lump on the ground. “Hey,” Teddy said sleepily as he sat up, “Watch it, dude.” Of course, Billy and Teddy had camped out on the floor next to him, that wasn’t weird at all. Billy murmured something unintelligible into Teddy’s chest. “Good morning to you too, B,” Teddy said softly before planting a kiss on his fiancé’s head. “Eeew,” Tommy complained in an obnoxious voice, but the couple paid them no mind. They knew Tommy didn’t mean it, which was true. Sure, he thought that being engaged at the ripe age of 17 was a little weird (though not too weird considering that the life expectancy of people in their line of work was shorter than the average person). And sure, he thought that relationships and love were a waste of time. But Billy and Teddy were happy and that was good enough for him.

There was a knock on the door. “You two better be decent,” a feminine voice warned. Billy and Teddy scrambled off the floor. “Yes, mom, we’re decent, but,” Billy began but the door was already opening. Based on everyone’s reactions, Tommy concluded that Billy had not informed his parents that a guest had stayed the night. He was about to take off because he really did not want to watch Billy get in trouble. “You must be Tommy,” Mrs. Kaplan said with a big smile, “Billy has told us so much about you.” Tommy didn’t know how to respond to that. He wondered what Billy would have told her. Clearly it wasn’t the whole truth, or else she’d be telling him to get the hell out of her home.

“Why don’t you stay for breakfast?” she asked nicely. Every voice in his head told him no, that staying at the Kaplan house any longer than necessary was a dumb idea. But his stomach was saying that it wanted real food rather than the stolen hotdogs it had been receiving for God knows how long now.

“Sure.” He said as enthusiastically as could. Billy was clearly over the moon at this new development. “I’ll show you to the kitchen,” he said cheerfully as he pulled Tommy out of the bedroom. Tommy had to bite down on the urge to flinch or yank his hand away. This was Billy. Billy, his sort of twin brother. Billy was not going to do anything. Mrs. Kaplan stared intently at Tommy as though she were reading him like a book. He didn’t like that all. The morning only got more awkward, seeing as Billy’s whole family, his real family, was gathered at the kitchen table for the meal. Tommy thought that only families on tv actually ate together.

“Look, Jacob, it’s Tommy!” a little boy, presumably one of Billy’s brothers, said as he tugged on a slightly older boy’s sleeve. “Isaac, please use your indoor voice.” Mr. Kaplan said gently. Billy took a seat and Tommy awkwardly sat down next to him. “It’s good to finally meet you, Tommy,” Mr. Kaplan said, “Billy talks about you so much!” Billy’s sighed loudly. “Guys please stop saying that, you’re going to inflate his ego even more.” Tommy grinned a little at that. Mrs. Kaplan brought out a plate of waffles and a big bottle of maple syrup. Tommy could have cried. But he didn’t because that would be lame. The Kaplans said a small prayer, but it was in Hebrew so he couldn’t follow along. “You don’t pray?” Jacob asked innocently. “I don’t know the prayers,” Tommy replied. Isaac smiled wide and said, “I’ll teach you one day! I’m the best student in my Hebrew school class!” His mother and father, the Shepherds had been Jewish, though they never practiced it or taught him much. And the Scarlet Witch, who he supposed was also his mother, was Jewish. So that probably made him Jewish in one way or another. He had to admit, the offer from Billy’s brothers was a little touching.

The waffles were heavenly, and he had to restrain himself from shoveling them all down at the speed of light. The meal was relatively peaceful, with small talk being made here and there. None of it was directed at Tommy, so he was able to quietly observe. That is until Billy’s dad seemed to get the courage to talk to the strange boy who shared his son’s face. “So, Tommy,” Mr. Kaplan began, “How do your folks deal with the whole ‘extra-curricular’ activities? Because Rebecca and I get worried sick.” Tommy had two options here: lie or tell the truth. He didn’t particularly like either option. His leg began to anxiously bounce under the table, but he held it down. He didn’t want to accidentally vibrate so fast that he blew up the Kaplan’s house. “Oh, they’re not really in the picture,” Tommy said casually as he took another bite of his waffles. An awkward silence fell over the table. Mrs. Kaplan seemed to sense that the topic was troublesome for Tommy, so she attempted to change subjects. “Billy, have you started your summer homework yet?” she asked.

But Billy, stubborn Billy did not seem to want to change the subject. “Where have you been staying then, Tommy?” he asked. “Billy, maybe we shouldn’t pry,” Teddy lightly suggested. Tommy nodded, “Yeah, Billy, maybe you shouldn’t pry.” Billy frowned and excused himself for a moment. “This can’t be good.” Teddy murmured. A few minutes later Billy ran back into the room looking very upset. Were those tears in his eyes? “Tommy how could you not tell me you were basically homeless and have been living in abandoned apartment buildings?!” Billy yelled. Stupid Billy and his magic. How dare he poke his nose into something that didn’t concern him? “Leave it alone.” Tommy simply said. He didn’t want to get upset, not in front of the Kaplans. “No! We’re brothers and brothers look out for each other,” Billy reasoned. “Stop saying that! Thomas and William Maximoff were brothers. Billy Kaplan and Tommy Shepherd are not!” Tommy snapped at him.

The look of hurt that flashed across Billy’s face was almost enough to make Tommy stop and apologize. Almost. But at this point, Tommy was feeling trapped in and he needed air. He didn’t need some dumb long-lost twin prying into his life and pitying it. Especially when that dumb long-lost twin just had the perfect fucking life. He didn’t need Tommy to come in and ruin shit. And that’s what would happen. That’s what always happened. “Tommy,” Billy tried as he reached out to plant a hand on the white-haired boy’s shoulder. But Tommy was already gone. 


End file.
